What the Future Holds
by Jael K
Summary: Neither one of them ever thought they'd want anything this normal-proposals and rings and vows and first dances. Life, however, is full of surprises. (And helpful, if annoying, friends, family members and teammates.) A CaptainCanary wedding fic. An expansion of my story, "Wait for It."
1. Chapter 1

This is an expansion of my story "Wait for It." Set in the same 'verse as "If I Never." Six short chapters, but they're already done. (It should be completely posted by Thursday. Just in case we all need the fluff!)

Thanks to LarielRomeniel for the beta!

 **...**

 **Sept. 2018**

He stands on the rooftop, eyes closed, and he listens to his city.

There are the usual sounds of traffic: the low thrum of engines, the occasional squeal of tires or the blare of a horn. The indistinct sound of voices, far below, as the people of Central City head out and about on a summer evening, just before sunset.

At a distance, he can pick out the faint sound of a siren. Police, he thinks. Not for him, not this time. Never again? Well…probably. The thought—and the qualifier—make him smile.

"You all right there, Boss?"

"I don't think I've been 'Boss' for a while." He half-turns, smiles again to see Mick looking somewhat uncomfortable in the evening's attire. "You can take that tie off, if you want."

"Haircut will whine. Says I'll mess up the photos." The other man shrugs as he walks over to stand by his friend. "And you'll always be 'Boss.' Unless you're on my ship. Then _I'm_ the captain."

"Right." He fiddles with his own tie for a moment, mind elsewhere. "She is...here, isn't she?"

Mick grunts, a sound of mingled surprise and amusement. "What, you think she might run? After everything you two have been through? Don't be stupid. I'd be more worried about whether Queen takes a shot at you, what Jax is going to play for your first dance, and whether Haircut has a nervous breakdown as self-appointed coordinator of the whole damn thing."

Leonard Snart turns to look out over his city again, thinking about might-have-beens and almost-weren'ts and second chances.

"I don't care about any of that," he says. "Just want to get the important part."

"Almost, Boss. Almost."

* * *

 _Three months ago_

It'd started with a heist gone bad.

Oh, it hadn't been _his_ heist. That was the irony of it all. He'd been trying to prevent one, at the credit union not too far from the apartment. He hadn't even been going there, but he'd seen a getaway car idling outside as clear as day to anyone with eyes...and, well, his particular skill set doesn't hurt, either.

So easy to walk on by. But that's not him anymore.

Young, stupid would-be robbers tend to make young, stupid mistakes, the kind that get innocent people killed. So he heaves a sigh, shakes his head, and turns toward the building.

He should have called for backup first. But this team-up thing is still new and strange to him, even a year after he and Sara decided to leave the Waverider and found themselves—to his great bemusement—working with Team Flash and, occasionally, Team Arrow.

So he walks into the credit union alone.

He doesn't _walk_ out.

…

When he wakes up, groggy and with a distant sense of pain, it takes him a moment or two to register "hospital ER." On the heels of that, he does vaguely remember the ambulance ride—insisting vehemently that he doesn't need it even as he's fading in and out-getting a CAT scan and the shallow-but-bloody gouge on his arm tended to, refusing to give his name out of a confused mingling of past and present, worrying about...

Sara.

He turns his head and, yes, she's sitting there in a chair next to the bed, head tilted back. Her eyes are closed, and there are...there are tear tracks on her face, he realizes.

As if she senses he's awake—he wouldn't put it past her—she opens her eyes. Gazes at him. And scowls.

Damn. He's in _trouble_.

"You. Idiot," she says finally, straightening and slowly pulling her hair out of her face, scraping it back with shaking fingers. "What the hell were you thinking? Why didn't you call Barry? Joe? _Me_? You just had to waltz in there and right in front of a bullet?"

"Wasn't...a big deal." He sits up a little more, nods to the bandage on his arm. "We've both had worse. And they said the concussion is minor."

"Yes, but..."

But then the doctor is coming in to check on him, and then Joe West is there to get a statement, and the conversation is done...for the moment.

…..

Eventually, they let him go home—with strict instructions to monitor any symptoms and follow up. He rolls his eyes, but Sara promises for him, with yet another glare.

Once back at the apartment, he collapses in bed, and Sara sprawls next to him, then rolls over to bury her face in his chest, his shirt balled up in her fists. He puts his arms around her, but it takes him a just a moment to realize that his shirt is gradually getting sodden.

Sara Lance does not cry over minor injuries. Sara Lance does not cry, so far as he knows, over major injuries. Why she should be falling apart over a concussion and a flesh wound is beyond him.

"Sara," he says quietly, "what aren't you telling me?"

She's quiet a moment, then draws a shaky breath. "You know the security guard was DOA, right?"

He gives her a slow, regretful nod. He'd barely gotten a read on the situation before the kid (stupid _amateur_ ) had pulled out his gun...and the plainclothes guard in the credit union had reacted immediately and badly. He hadn't been able to save the guard. But he'd gotten the gun away, albeit with a gouge across his bicep and his skull ringing off the building's flagstone floor when he'd tackled the kid, with no other injuries or loss of life, and he supposes that has to count for sort of a win.

"Well." Sara won't look him in the eye, but when she speaks again, it's like she's rushing to get the words out. "It took me a while to make the connection between what happened at the credit union and why you weren't home yet, but ...they had two men in their early 40s transported to the hospital and one was dead and one was alive, but they didn't have a name for you, because you were half out of it and weren't carrying any ID.

"And they wouldn't tell me anyway: I'm not family. 'Girlfriend' doesn't count for much with no proof or even knowing what alias you'd given them...I spent 15 minutes sitting in the waiting room, not knowing if you were alive or dead, before Joe and Barry showed up and got things straightened out."

So that's it. He lifts a hand, touches her face, hating the pain he hears in her voice and sees in her eyes, knowing that she's thought him dead before and he's seeing the echoes now.

"I'm sorry."

"I know. And you saved lives today, you...you hero, you." She pokes him and gives him a watery smile. "I just...it got me wondering...I hate the idea that, with everything we do, if something happened, that I wouldn't even be able to..." Her voice trails off again, and she sighs.

They lie in silence for a while, but his thoughts are anything but quiet.

He's thought about this. How could he not? But they're anything but traditional. And he'd never wanted to saddle her with more of his baggage than this arrangement they have now. He's always figured, he supposed, that eventually she'd want someone younger, someone with a bit less of a problematic past, a real...hero.

But he supposes he's a fool, because he says it anyway.

"Do you want...do you think we should formalize things, then?" Now it's his turn to rush to get the words out. "In some way? Get married? Will you? I mean, do you want to?"

He's already regretting the words—impulse is so rarely a thing he does-when she stills, then lifts her eyes to his.

"Len," she says slowly. "Did you just propose?"

He considers the matter for a moment. Then, "yes," he says with wonder, reaching up to run a hand through her hair. "Yes, I guess I did."

He hears her intake of breath, closes his eyes, waits for the gentle rejection.

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes. I accept."


	2. Chapter 2

**Sept. 2018**

They don't know so many people that the space available is full of chairs, but it's still a little jarring...though not altogether in a bad way...that there are so many people who want to be here to witness this. He wonders, abstractly, how many of them are waiting for him to show his "true colors."

Well. They can keep waiting.

He wanders back to the little podium that's been set up...right here, he thinks, is where Rip stood that night...checks his hip against it and surveys the area. The Legends are already here—well, they'd almost have to be—but Mick is talking to Kendra, Raymond is bouncing about being Raymond and Jax is puttering around with the sound system, which has been playing something generic and classical.

 _Come on, kid, you can do better than that..._

"I've got to say, when I said you were going to be a hero, I didn't really expect this."

With a roll of his eyes...it's obligatory, really...he turns, raises an eyebrow at Barry Allen.

"What?" he drawls. "Thought the heroes got all the girls. And guys. Why else sign up?"

But the speedster just shoves his hands in the pockets of his suit and grins at him. Allen is much less easy to rattle than he used to be. A pity.

"Well," his former nemesis says drily, "sure, it was pretty easy to see _why_ you were going down that path once I saw you with Sara. But I meant...this. Standing here. With an invitation and everything."

"Actually, I don't think _you_ were invited." He makes a show of looking around. "Where did Raymond get to, anyway? I did tell him we have standards..."

But Barry snorts, a remarkably Snart-like noise. "Right. You _owe_ me."

"I do not!"

"Uh huh." Oh, the kid is enjoying this a little too much. "I got you thinking about it. Being a hero. And then you went along with Hunter and...everything happened."

"What? You mean like smashing off my own hand, blowing myself up...excuse me, knocking myself back in time...at the Oculus and then losing my memory, thinking I was going crazy while getting it back, and _then_ getting stuck in a sort of manifestation of time itself?"

Barry is beaming, though, like he's got the perfect punchline. "Yeah? Well, you got the girl, didn't you?"

He can't help it. He laughs out loud.

Of all the things this life has brought him...well, Sara will always be the most unexpected. But this...yes, he'll think it...this friendship has to be on that list as well.

* * *

 _Three months ago_

"You _what_?"

Sara, heading out to help Team Flash with something, has decided he needs a post-concussion babysitter. And fortunately, or so she says, the Waverider is in town.

The apartment is now, apparently, the place to watch The Game. He has no idea what The Game is—sports are _not_ his thing-but it apparently exists and Mick, Raymond and Jax care about it. And Sara has told the lot of them that the apartment has fairly high-level cable, a decision that Leonard is pretty sure will come back to haunt them both.

Although right now Mick seems a touch distracted.

Leonard leans on the counter that separates the kitchen and the living room and shrugs. "I sort of asked Sara to marry me last night. She said yes."

"How do you 'sort of' ask someone to marry you?" Mick wonders out loud, before shaking his head and leaning over to clap his former partner on the shoulder. "Congratulations. I think."

"You _think_?"

"Hey, Blondie's a babe and a badass and all that, but it's kind of weird thinking about you turning into an old married man, Snart. I mean, what's next? Kids or some domestic shit like that?"

He has about two seconds to digest that thought before a crash from the door makes them both jump. Turns, he frowns at Raymond, who's gathering up the contents of a grocery bag and staring open-mouthed at him.

"You _what_? Seriously? You're getting married? To _Sara_?"

Mick snickers at that. Len glares at him, then rolls his eyes at Raymond.

"No, to Rip Hunter. Yes, to _Sara_. It's not a big deal. We'll get a license, find a JP...it shouldn't take very long."

Even Mick looks mildly nonplussed at this attitude, but Raymond is staring at him in horror.

"You really think Sara's not going to want her dad there?" he says. "Her other friends? Felicity? Thea? Oli...OK, that might not be the best idea. But are you sure? I mean, have you talked to her about that?"

"No, but..." He looks to Mick for support, but much to his surprise, the bigger man is also shaking his head.

"Nope," he says. "Haircut's actually right." ("Hey!" Raymond says in the background.) "What do you think Lisa will do if you get friggin' married without telling her? Without asking her to be there? I'm sure not going to do it. And I don't recommend _you_ do it if you don't want to make Sara a widow right after the wedding."

"Barry and Team Flash should know too. I mean, you've been working with them, right?" Raymond muses while sitting a six-pack and a container of sliced veggies on the counter, ignoring Leonard's theatrical roll of the eyes. "And, I mean...did you even have a ring?"

"It wasn't exactly planned..."

"You need to give her a ring! And you can't steal it." Raymond tries his best at looking stern. It comes out more pleading, and the puppy-dog eyes don't help. "She wouldn't want that. I think."

"Well, I wouldn't want to start out in matrimony without the Atom seal of approval..." But all the dripping sarcasm goes unnoticed as Jax, just opening the door, stops dead in his tracks.

"You _what_?"

"Snart asked Sara to marry him. She said yes," Raymond informs the younger half of Firestorm as Mick starts laughing in the background at the expression on Leonard's face. "He's saying they're just going to run off to a justice of the peace. I'm telling him that's not a good idea. They really have to have a wedding."

Jax stands there a moment and considers his three older past-teammates, then shakes his head and continues into the apartment, dropping his own offering of chips and salsa onto the table before turning back to them.

"Ray," he says, "do you really think telling Snart, of all people, that he _has_ to do something is ever going to work out?"

"Well, but..."

"And Snart. Man. After everything you two have gone through, you really need to have a party." Jax shakes his head at them as Mick snorts again. "I mean, you can't just be all, 'yeah, we're like this whole epic love story and we both died and came back and nearly died again and all the other stuff...but we're just going to sneak off and tie the knot without any of the people who put up with our crap while all this was happening?' Not cool."

Mick's roaring with laughter at this point. Raymond is wisely keeping his mouth shut. Leonard is unamused.

"Watch us." He points a finger at Jax. "And I didn't actually die. And Sara died and came back before she even met me. Sort of. Plus: Our story. Not anyone else's."

But Jax still has a more important card to play. The youngest Legend shakes his head again, then smiles.

"Man, you know Gray can marry people, right?" he asks pointedly. "The whole rabbi thing. He'll never forgive you if you just run off to a courthouse. And neither will Clarissa, and I'd be more scared of her."

Leonard opens his mouth again. Closes it. Shuts his eyes, shakes his head...and gives in.

"That is the first thing any of you have said that makes any sense," he mutters. "All right. But you three are going to be the three strangest wedding planners ever, got it? You want a party, you're helping.

"And you still have to make it through Sara."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sept. 2018**

She'd give almost anything for Laurel to be here with her today.

But her sister is gone. Dead. Lost. Looking in the mirror, Sara Lance puts her hand over her heart and closes her eyes. _I wish you could meet him, Laurel. Oh, you'd be appalled! But then you'd see...I know you would._

Her mother had dropped by a few minutes ago, taken one look at her in her white dress and cried. Her father followed, so much in his eyes.

"I love you, baby girl," he whispers. "This guy...he makes you happy?"

"Yes, dad. He does."

It's not quite a traditional dress. Oh, it's white, but it's shorter; she could fight in it if she needed to. She has a bouquet of blue roses—they stand for "impossible things," Clarissa Stein tells her, and the thought makes her smile.

And one yellow rose. For Laurel.

They don't have traditional attendants, either, although Mick, of course, will stand with Leonard. There's only one person she'd truly want with her, and that's not going to happen. Kendra, though, understands what they've been through to get here. So that feels right.

* * *

 _Just under three months ago_

She's late.

Leonard checks his watch again, then takes another swig of the beer by his elbow, pushing a cold french fry through the ketchup on his plate and considering the reminder of the burger there. But just as he's thinking about settling the bill and leaving, he hears the door to Saints & Sinners open and close.

A moment later, Lisa drops into the booth across from him, and he sighs at the slightly maniacal grin on her face, holding up a hand before she can say a word.

"Did you find it?"

"What's it worth to you, Lenny?" She raises an eyebrow at him, then takes pity, nodding as she reaches into a pocket and pulls out a small box, pushing it across the table to him.

He stares at it just a moment, then takes a breath as he reaches out and picks it up, weighing it in his hand a moment before opening it. Lisa, stunningly, lets him have that moment in silence.

It's not the biggest diamond out there. He could have stolen something far more impressive (or even bought it). But there's not much he has from his family that he'd be willing to pass on to anyone he cares about, and this, this ring—a single diamond flanked by small sapphires on a golden band-is symbolic of that very small exception.

He looks up at Lisa again and catches her looking at the box with the oddest expression on her face. It's a very gentle expression for her, and he wonders for a moment if he's made a mistake.

"Are you sure you're OK with me using this?" he asks tentatively. "I mean...he left it to you..."

But Lisa waves a hand in the air dismissively, shaking her head. "No. I mean...I didn't even know Grandma. You did. It means more to you." Her smile turns a little sly. "Besides, if I ever get a ring, I want Cis..the person giving it...to pick it out himself."

She's partially dropped the name on purpose. He levels his best big-brother glare at her, sighing when she chuckles, then nods and slides the ring box into the pocket of his jacket.

"When are you going to ask her?" She's claimed the remnant of his beer and takes a drink herself.

"Already did." He smiles at the noise she makes. "It was...sort of impromptu. She said yes. Still have to do the ring thing, though."

"Lenny! You're just now telling me this? So when's the wedding? Where?"

He's never, ever going to tell Mick (or Raymond or Jax) that they were right about this. "Don't know. We have to talk about that." Belatedly, he thinks about Raymond's assertion about Team Flash. "Don't...ah...tell Ramon about this, OK? Not yet."

She pouts at him for a second, then does something completely unexpected—slides out of her side of the booth and moves over to his, sitting next to him and throwing her arms around him.

"I'm happy for you," she mutters into his shoulder. "Big brother. And I hope you are happy. So happy. The happiest. Who'd have thought that was even possible for..."

She doesn't finish her sentence. He doesn't need to finish it for her. Instead, he just tentatively puts an arm over her shoulders and the children of Lewis Snart sit there a moment, in silence.

* * *

 **Sept. 2018**

Lisa had come down to the apartment...an empty one in the building that Ray had paid off the landlord to let them use for the day...not very long ago, hovering by the door, the look on her face the one Sara has come to associate with one or the other of the Snart siblings wanting to approach someone or say something, but uncertain about how they'll be received.

It's not the first time she wishes she could use her League skills on Lewis Snart. She's certain it will not the last.

She gives the other woman a minute or two to compose herself, then half turns, smiling, and is gratified to see a smile...a real one, not the Snart smirk...in return.

"I just came down to see how you were doing," Lisa said tentatively, moving into the room. "Since you don't really have a traditional 'wedding party.' Kendra's talking to Mick, so I volunteered."

"I'm OK." She spins around a little, showing off the dress. "Not the long, traditional type, so much easier to manage. But thanks!" She takes a look at Lisa's dress, a slightly slinky, shiny, gold number. "Yours is lovely. And fitting..."

The other woman grins. "Thanks." She does a little shimmy. "Cisco _loves_ it."

"I bet." Sara gives her a slightly impish grin. "Did you really leave him up there and trust your brother not to run him off?"

"He wouldn't do that. Not today." Lisa sounds confident in this. "You know he's scared to death, right?"

The sudden twist in the subject has Sara blinking. "Um. How so?"

"That you'll leave. That you'll think better of it. Or him." Lisa's eyes are very, very serious now, as she stands there in her golden dress, hands on her hips. "I mean...people like us...Sara, it took me a long time to get used to the idea that a Snart could have a happily ever after. It's sort of...ingrained, you know? That we don't get that. Ever.

"The fact that Lenny's here at all, that you have that ring on your hand, that he's standing there fidgeting up there in a tux...I just hope you know how much he loves you, that he's trying to get past that. OK?"

She's not used to that particular note in her presumptive sister-in-law's voice, not at all. The painful honesty, the honest pain. "I understand." She offers Lisa a smile. "I love him. Not going anywhere."

The other woman gives her one more long look, than nods...and smiles back. "I didn't think so."

* * *

 _Just under three months ago_

"I don't know, I just figured we'd find a JP and tell everyone afterward." Sara frowns for a moment, not as though she's upset by something, but as though she's puzzled. He supposes he'd feel the same, being told of the unholy trio who want to help plan their nuptials.

"That's what I said." He leans against the wall and watches her putting away her workout gear. "Raymond had a cow. He did say you'd probably want your friends there. And, frankly," he sighs, "my sister would probably murder me herself if I didn't let her in on it."

She considers this a moment, flipping a knife from hand to hand in a way that should probably be sort of appalling, but that he finds, well, impressively hot.

"He's right," she admits. "My parents would be hurt if they weren't. Felicity. Thea. John. Kendra. Everyone from the Waverider. They deserve to be there."

"Do we have to invite Queen?"

"Yeah. We should." She pokes him when he groans. "He's a friend. He'll behave. I can still kick his ass and I don't care if he's the mayor. And he knows it. And Barry and Caitlin and, yes, Len, Cisco. All of Team Flash. We've been through too much with them." She stops, looking startled at her own words. "Wait a minute, when did I turn into..."

"A bride?" A smile lingering around his mouth, he steps back from her half-hearted swipe, then pauses. "Um. By the way." He takes a deep breath and pulls the small box out of his jacket pocket. "Seemed like you should have one of these things, even if we're not being completely traditional." His eyes flick to her face. "I'm not going down on a knee...OK? Or do you want..."

She bites back a completely inappropriate comment about him on his knees. "No...no." Then she bites her lip as he opens the box, showing her the ring inside.

"That's beautiful, Len," she whispers. "I mean...you didn't...

"It was my grandmother's." Startled, she looks him in the eye, to see the vulnerability there. "She died when I was 4. I barely remember her. But my grandfather...well. He loved her. Supplemented the few memories I had with all kinds of stories." He shakes his head. "They were pretty much the one good example I had of a healthy relationship when I was a kid. There's almost nothing of my family I'd want you to have, Sara, but this... well.

"I hope you'll take this."

Words don't seem to suffice. Mutely, she holds out her left hand; just as mutely, he slides the ring onto her finger.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sept. 2018**

It's Ray who finally pokes his head downstairs to get her—she laughs at his nerves; he's not even the one getting married—and escorts her up to the rooftop. (She hugs him, this teammate who's become family—even to Len, though it'd pain him to admit it. He hugs her back.)

She's walking down the aisle herself; she'd discussed the whole giving-the-bride-away thing with her father, but both of them admit that it doesn't feel quite right. (As Laurel's ghost stands there between them.)

Sara has a moment or two before the processional music starts, and Leonard hasn't seen her yet. So she just stands there and watches him.

Stein is there now, standing with Len and Mick and Kendra, right next to where Rip stood that first night, she thinks, showing them a vision of the future. Also fitting. Because now _he_ 's standing there, fidgeting and looking out over the city, and this, this is her future.

She thinks about all it's taken them to get to right now, right now. And as the music comes up and Leonard starts, then turns to look toward her, she smiles.

* * *

 _About two-and-a-half months ago_

Sunday dinner at the Steins' house once a month—sometimes more-has become a bit of a tradition, really. Sometimes it's them and Jax...just like that first dinner. Sometimes it's the one-time Waverider crew, with Mick and Ray visiting too, or even Rip and sometimes Kendra. Sometimes Team Flash gets involved. And for one very memorable Thanksgiving, they were _all_ there.

This Sunday, it's Team Legends, as Mick and Ray have dragged Rip away from his new Vanishing Point and even Kendra has flown in for a visit. (She never brings Carter. No one, except maybe Sara, has even asked about that.)

It's perfect, really...although Ray is far too excited about the news they have to share and Leonard keeps glaring at him. Still, Sara thinks, that's normal enough that they might be able to surprise the others anyway.

Except for, perhaps, Clarissa.

The other woman raises an eyebrow at them as soon as they have a moment, as Ray takes the dessert they're brought and heads into the kitchen to look for Jax, and Mick and Rip wander into the living room to find Stein and Kendra.

Leonard gives Clarissa a smile-smirk and gets a very similar one in return—Sara marvels at the friendship that's grown up between these two most unlikely people—then winks at them and follows the others into the living room. Sara takes a deep breath, smiles at the other woman, tucks her hair behind her ear and prepares to follow...

Until she realizes Clarissa's eyes have tracked her hand. Her left hand. The one with a sparkly new/old piece of jewelry on it.

But she doesn't say a word. Neither of them do. Clarissa's eyes widen, just a little, and her smile takes on a nostalgic tone. She pats the younger woman's arm; they smile at each other, and then head off to find the rest.

Rip always looks a tad uncomfortable at these gatherings, but right now he's actually laughing at something Kendra had said and reaching out to take a glass of scotch Stein is handing him. He greets them cordially, blinking in surprise as Sara hugs him and chuckling as Leonard mock-glares at him before extending his hand for a shake.

They're all here except for Carter, all the so-called Legends that Hunter recruited that cool January night. All their lives have changed, so much, Sara thinks.

Dinner is salmon and roasted asparagus; Jax is turning into quite the cook. It isn't until later, after dessert, that Sara sees Leonard glance at her, just a little self-consciously, and nods back, also just a little self-consciously.

Of course, the man can't be direct about it.

"Soo..." he drawls, toying with the stem of his wine glass, "...Stein."

"Yes?" The older man looks over, breaking off his conversation with Ray. (Who, in the background, beams so broadly that Sara has to glare at him to keep him quiet.)

"You'd say that we'll all friends here now…" He looks thoughtful, glancing dramatically at Rip, who rolls his eyes. "…right?"

Stein blinks at him. "Right? I mean, I guess so." He narrows his eyes. "Why? Did you steal something?"

Sara snorts. Leonard ignores it. "So…that whole 'I'm as clueless as you, for once' thing, way back when…"

"Yes?"

"Still think I'm clueless?" He takes a drink. Mick's chortling now. Ray looks like he's going to explode. Jax just puts his head down on the table. Sara's smirking. Clarissa looks smug. Kendra and Rip just look confused.

"Um." Stein looks around the table. "Mr. Snart. We may not always have seen from eye to eye. But you have proven yourself time after time again to be…well. Perhaps not as clueless as I once envisioned." He raises an eyebrow and points at Sara. "As evidenced by your, ah, continuing relationship with Ms. Lance."

Sometimes it's just too easy. "So you consider that a sign I'm not so clueless these days?"

"Indeed."

"And you'd be willing to marry us, then?"

Silence.

"What?"

"You know." He takes another drink. "Make it permanent. Marry us. Me and Sara. You can do that, right?"

Those who weren't in the know blink a few beats longer. It's Rip who finally breaks the silence, sitting down his drink perhaps a little too heavily and shaking his head.

"Ha!" The Time Master says, pointing at them. "I knew you two were up to something."

"You did not!" Sara accuses as the tableau breaks, Mick chortles and Kendra yelps, getting up to run around the table and hug Sara.

"I did. I _always_ knew when you were up to something. Now, I couldn't usually do anything about it. But I knew." He stands up and extends his hand to Leonard again as Clarissa takes Kendra's place hugging Sara and Stein just sits there and shakes his head.

"I just walked right into that, didn't I?" he says finally. "Yes, of course, you two. I will marry you, if you wish. In fact, I'm quite flattered." He turns his head to regard his own wife. "And, yes, dear. You were right."

Clarissa smiles just a little. No one asks.


	5. Chapter 5

Why, yes, I did walk down the aisle to the theme from "The Princess Bride" at my own wedding. ;) I couldn't resist using it.

And I can't take credit for all of Stein's speech. It's paraphrased from a speech given by the best man at the aforementioned wedding. Cookies to anyone who can tell me which TV show and episode it's from!

 **...**

 **Sept. 2018**

Since Jax was one of those who insisted that they "really needed to have a party," he's been put in charge of the music for the event. It's been pretty generically classical so far, but Leonard takes notice when he hears a few moments of silence and then the opening notes of a new piece.

He laughs right out loud.

 _And Jax calls_ me _a nerd._

He doesn't think more about the kid's choice of "The Princess Bride" theme, though, because he turns his head to look down the aisle and…she's there.

He's pretty sure he makes a noise when he sees her, in white, blond hair loose about her shoulders and those flowers in her hand.

Mick, at his right, snickers. He hears Stein sigh, but when he looks at the other man, there's warmth and understanding in those eyes, and Kendra, smiling at him from the other side of the podium, looks wistful.

Sara's walking toward him now, past all those who've come to witness this: Lisa and Barry and Rip and all the other Legends and heroes and family and...friends.

He only has eyes for her.

* * *

 _About two months ago_

"You have to make a decision!"

"Raymond, I made a decision. I asked. Sara made a decision. She answered. You're the one—one of the ones—who said we had to make this a whole shindig."

"You at least have to say where you want to get married." The other man looks stubborn, folding his arms. "Decide, or I'll just tell Stein to meet us at S.T.A.R. Labs. And I'll tell Cisco Ramon you want him to be your best man."

"You wouldn't."

"I _so_ would."

"Fine." He glares back. "But all those stupid banquet halls you keep suggesting don't work. Can you really see _us_ doing that?"

Raymond throws up his hands. "No! But you wouldn't tell me what would actually _mean_ something to you. And you said you don't want to do it on the Waverider, which is the only thing I could think of."

"Captain marries people on a ship, and I don't want…" He stops, thoughtful.

"What are you thinking?"

"Hmm. The night Rip first picked us all up. The rooftop."

Raymond blinks, then grins. "Yeah?"

"You think that'd work?"

"I think that's almost too romantic for Leonard Snart to come up with it. But I'll see what it would take to get permission."

He mock-glares at the other man. "You can take credit for it. Protect my reputation."

"Maayyybeeee…"

* * *

 **Sept. 2018**

"I first met Mr. Snart on this very rooftop, more than two years ago, though I knew him by...reputation," Stein tells the audience, once they're both standing there in front of him and the music has died down. "And I said to him, ' I'm as clueless as you, for once.' " He smiles at them. "Not so long ago, I was given reason to remember that exchange. And I informed Mr. Snart that I no longer find him clueless. There are various reasons for this...but one of them is standing here with him tonight, and I could not possibly be happier about that.

"I'm not going to go the traditional route here, not that of any faith. It seems, of course, a touch absurd, to invoke 'til death do us part, with this couple," he pauses for the laugh that ripples over the rooftop, "and in this company. And God forbid there is any mention of obedience. So, please forgive me if I rather make it up as I go."

Sara grins at him, eyes shining. Leonard manages the tiniest smile in response.

It's not that he's not happy. It's that it's almost a bit too much. This can't be happening. It can't. Not to him, not to them. On no Earth does he deserve this, on no Earth does he...

"...get to have a 'happily ever after.' "

He starts and looks at Stein, who's interrupted his thoughts so adroitly. The other man is looking at him with compassion, in a way that makes him think that maybe, just maybe, Stein had known exactly what he was thinking.

"If it is not too tacky to invoke a TV show at such a solemn event…and I do not think that it is…I should like to point out this," the professor goes on. "A wise man once said that, in this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of 3 million Earth-type planets. And in all of the universe, 3 million million galaxies like this. And in all of that…perhaps more…only one of us.

"And somehow, you two found each other. Again…and again. How remarkable is that? But I think, perhaps, that you both know just how lucky you are."

He turns, then, to Leonard. "Do you, Leonard Snart, take Sara Lance…"

The vows are a blur; he says "I do" at one point, apparently at the right time, and so does she. Mick hands them the rings; he realizes his hands are shaking, just a little, as he slides the plain gold band onto her finger.

 _Weakness_ , he'd have thought once. _Love_ , he knows, now.

* * *

 _About one month ago_

"…so, the building's owner is fine with us using the rooftop for the night. And there's an empty apartment on the top floor; you can use that too. To get ready and stuff."

Leonard eyes Raymond as he takes a swig from his bottle of beer. "That's…awfully generous of him. What's the catch?"

The other man blinks back at him innocently. "Why do you think there's always a catch?"

"All this time and you don't know him better than that? 'Cause there is." Mick shakes his head while retrieving another bottle from the fridge.

"Man, I'm not even Snart-level paranoid and I know that." Jax shakes his head at them from where he's lounging on the sofa, watching The Game 2.0. "All due respect, Ray, but you've got money. You've always had money. There's always a catch."

Leonard rounds on the scientist. "That's it, isn't it? You have money. You paid him off."

Raymond looks a trifle sheepish. "Well. Yeah."

"You…" Leonard, in the process of starting a truly epic verbal (probably only verbal) beat down of the other man, just happens to lift his eyes a little…and catches Mick's gaze over Raymond's head.

The bigger man gives him a warning shake of the head. It's rare enough, from Mick, that Leonard actually pauses a moment, a fraction of a second, and rethinks his assessment of the situation. He does it in typical rapid Snart style.

One: Raymond has seemed oddly invested in this whole thing. To the point of using his own money to pay off a property owner so his…friends….can have their wedding there.

Two: It's generous—Raymond always is—but this is above and beyond. It couldn't have been cheap, and it may not completely legal.

Three: Raymond had been engaged, once. Twice. Anna, who died. And Kendra, who left. At least the first time, it'd been close enough that there had been wedding plans, venues booked, and knowing Raymond it had probably been something quite personal and romantic…

"…did that for us?" he asks, his tone curt, but modulated. "Why?"

The other man shrugs. "Well. You were right. It seemed perfect. And I didn't want to lie too much-he wasn't sure about the liability and all that. Wanted to know more about who you and Sara are. It seemed better than going back to square one."

Leonard snorts. "You don't think he'd have rented to a crook and an assassin?"

"Former crook and assassin." Raymond gives him a crooked grin. "Heroes, now, right?"

That should have been cause of another verbal smackdown. Instead, Leonard merely says, "Thank you."

Rather than deal with the shock in the other man's eyes, he turns aside, shakes his head, and heads into the kitchen, ignoring Raymond's stuttered, "You're welcome?"

"Why are the women out partying tonight while we're all here watching TV?" Jax wonders out loud, propping his feet on the coffee table. "Mick, you're best man, couldn't you have put something together?"

Before Mick can replay, Leonard snorts from the kitchen. "You think I want a classic bachelor party?" he says sardonically as he retrieves another beer and wanders out to see what's going on with The Game. "Shots and strippers with you lot or, worse, Barry Allen, Ramon, and Oliver Queen? No thanks."

Mick snickers. "But Boss. What if Barry Allen _was_ the stripper?" He laughs out loud as Leonard throws a bottle cap at him and rolls his eyes. "What?"

"I can't really see Barry going along with that," Raymond tells them seriously as Jax chortles. "But I could have asked…"

He's interrupted by a knock at the door. Leonard waves him to silence, frowning, and goes to answer it.

And Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon peering over his shoulder, beams at him as he holds up a six-pack and cranes his neck to see into the apartment.

"Hey! Mick said you were having a get-together tonight and I should come over. I hope it's OK…"

Central City's scarlet speedster is left downright speechless, though, as his one-time nemesis whirls and, with a muttered oath, starts toward the best man in his upcoming wedding.

A few of the building's residents look out their windows as one of the residents of apartment 6E chases his friend out onto the street in the warm August night, the latter laughing maniacally, the former showing a formidable command of profanity.

6E has always been a model tenant. And so they ignore it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sept. 2018**

"...I now pronounce you husband and wife."

There's a cheer. He hears it, distantly, but Sara is smiling at him, and the sun setting behind them is reflected in her eyes. He can't believe this is happening. Can't believe she's here, that they're here, after everything, after...

Mick says something. "What?!" he snaps.

Stein shakes his head. "Kiss her, Leonard," the older man says with some asperity as Mick laughs right out loud. Then, he leans forward and says, gently: "You don't have to wait any longer. Kiss her."

And so he does.

The audience roars. There's a wolf whistle he's pretty sure is from his sister and another from…Ray?... as Sara grabs the lapels of his jacket and pulls him closer. When they part, they're both grinning.

There's not really a recessional: after all, the reception is here, too, at the clusters of tables and chairs and buffet tables at the other end of the roof. But Jax cues up Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" anyway as they turn toward all the people there to witness this union.

To his surprise, Quentin Lance, there at the front, has tears in his eyes, and they don't seem to be "my baby just married a criminal" tears. So does Dinah Lance. So does Raymond, but that was pretty much expected.

Barry, standing next to Iris West, his own fiancée, is beaming. So are Lisa and Felicity Smoak and Thea Queen and others. Oliver Queen looks a trifle nonplussed, but Leonard can live with that.

Sara hasn't let go of his hand, and he glances at her as she squeezes his fingers.

"I'm sort of glad we didn't just get a JP," she whispers to him.

He squeezes back. "Me too. Don't tell anyone."

* * *

 _One week ago_

"…. so, you want to do that? Father-daughter dance?"

"Yep. He's not walking me down the aisle; I want him to at least have that." Sara turns her head as she hears the key in the lock of the apartment, smiles as Leonard enters, shoving the door closed with a foot as he hefts the case in which he carries the cold gun. He appears to be in one piece and not even too pissed off despite working with Team Flash all afternoon; she turns back to Jax with a shrug.

The younger man raises his eyebrows, but shrugs back. "So, you have a request for that? Or you gonna make me pick it like with everything else?

Leonard snorts, hearing that. He sets the case down, strips off his googles and sets them down on top of it. "I told you, your idea, you get to plan it…"

But Sara holds up a hand to forestall the words. "Yes. This one, I have a request for. 'Just the Way You Are," Billy Joel." She smiles as Leonard's eyebrows go up. "Yeah, it seemed appropriate."

" 'I took the bad times, I'll take the good times; I'll take you just the way you are,'" her fiancé quotes softly. "Seems right. Good one."

Jax looks unnerved by a sentimental Leonard Snart. "OK. You sure you don't want anything else?" he asks tentatively. "To dance with your sister, or something like that?"

Leonard shrugs. "I'm sure I will. Don't worry about anything formal. I'll probably have to step in when she marries Ramon." He smiles briefly at the look on Jax's face. "I've made my peace with it. But don't tell _him_ that."

"Uh, no worries. So…I mean, you don't even have a first dance picked out? That's sort of a basic wedding thing. You don't have anything in particular you want played?"

Sara laughs. " 'Love Will Keep Us Together,' " she says impishly, glancing at Leonard, who smiles again. "That's not really a first dance song, though. Just make sure you play it at least once."

"Right. OK. But…really? No clues? No preference at all?"

"Surprise us, kid."

* * *

 **Sept. 2018**

The caterer Raymond had found had done a stellar job, and Leonard's relaxing, just a bit, with a glass of champagne as he watches Sara talking earnestly with Oliver Queen a few tables away. It had seemed better to stay out of that.

Not that he cares. He's the one with the ring on his hand, after all. He rolls it around his finger absently with his thumb as he watches Jax rise from where he's been talking to Thea Queen and head for where he has the sound system hooked up.

Sara, apparently noting the same thing, pats Queen on the shoulder and has started back toward him when Jax starts the song for their first dance as husband and wife.

He blinks when he recognizes the music, smiles as he looks at Sara, watching the recognition spread through her eyes a beat later. Standing, he extends a hand to her, and they walk together to the dance floor, where she moves gracefully into his arms as Etta James starts to sing.

" _At last, my love has come along_

" _My lonely days are over, and life is like a song…"_

There are a few more cheers (and wolf whistles) from the spectators, but they both ignore them. Leonard tilts his head a little to look down into Sara's eyes,

Could he have predicted this the night he woke up on that rooftop? Not in a million years. There are days he wonders if he'd died, after all, at the Oculus, and this is all going on in the split second before he's vaporized into atoms. That seems more likely, somehow, than all this being true.

" _I found a dream that I could speak to_

 _A dream that I could call my own…"_

He's smiling down at her with that odd, somewhat wistful expression, the same one she saw the night he brought up "me and you," and it makes her heart clench in pleasure and pain and regret and thankfulness.

So many ways this could have wrong. So many ways in which they've found their way to each other, despite everything.

She goes up on her toes to kiss him, then, yet another kiss that he didn't have to steal, and he kisses her back, arms wrapping around her even more firmly.

Yes. This is real.

" _You smiled, and then the spell was cast_

 _And here we are in heaven_

 _For you are mine...at last…"_


End file.
